Abstract. Rewriting logic is an executable logical framework well suited for the semantic definition of languages. Any such framework has to be judged by its effectiveness to bridge the existing gap between language definitions on the one hand, and language implementations and language analysis tools on the other. We give a progress report on how researchers in the rewriting logic semantics project are narrowing the gap between theory and practice in areas such as: modular semantic definitions of languages; scalability to real languages; support for real time; semantics of software and hardware modeling languages; and semantics-based analysis tools such as static analyzers, model checkers, and program provers.

Abstract. Rewriting logic is an executable logical framework well suited for the semantic definition of languages. Any such framework has to be judged by its effectiveness to bridge the existing gap between language definitions on the one hand, and language implementations and language analysis tools on the other. We give a progress report on how researchers in the rewriting logic semantics project are narrowing the gap between theory and practice in areas such as: modular semantic definitions of languages; scalability to real languages; support for real time; semantics of software and hardware modeling languages; and semantics-based analysis tools such as static analyzers, model checkers, and program provers.